Railway switch



Feb. 24, 1925.

D. E. LAHEY RAILWAY SWITCH 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 18, 1924 m w. Kym/1.. at afioznmt Feb. 24, 1925. 1,527,881

D. E. LAHEY RAILWAY SWITCH Filed June 18, 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Feb. 24. 1925.

D. E. LAHEY RAILWAY SWITCH Fil'gd June 18, 1924 4 Sheet-Sheet 4 Patented Feb. 24,1925.

DENNIS E. nanny, or LouisvILLE, KENTUCKY.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

Application filed June 18, 1924. Serial No. 720,798..

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DENNIS LAI-IEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Switches, of which the following is a specitioation.

This invention relates to improvements in railway trackage and the primary object is to improve the switches and guard rails of railway tracks.

Prior to the present application, I have patented (see my Patent No. 1,468,533, dated September 18, 1928) animproved guard rail, which has proved particularly eiiicient in practice, and it is the purpose of this invention to modify the patented idea to meet with the strict requirements of the American Railway Association. The necessity for changing the design of the guard rail for the perfect protection of the railroad switch points is this: The patented design is slightly higher than necessary, even though the design is about a half an inch lower than the requirements of the A. A. Therefore, I have redesigned the guard rail to provide a structure to meet the varying theories of most railroad men, and in order to produce this design it has been necessary to make a multiplicity of changes to accord with the lower height.

In the following detail description it will be observed that at the highest point of the guard rail, above the stock rail, the present construction is only about one and one-quarter inches above the stock rail, instead of two inches, as compared with the patented design disclosed in my above identified patent, which latter however, is now in sue-- cess'ful use on certain railways. This highest point in the new design is only one inch wide. The balance of the plate of the guard rail is only threequarter inch higher than the stock rail, which is a material reduction in height as compared with the former design. It was necessary in the new design to obtain equal strength as compared with the old design, and this has been accomplished through a novel shoulder and rib construction.

The guard rail forming the subject-matter of the present invention is also adjustable in effect, for after six or seven years wear, when it does not give the proper contact to car wheels, and the ties have rotted, the guard rail can be re-set in such manner that it will function as it did when originally installed. The ramp or toot guard forming cooperating with the guard rail, is so constructed that it permits re-setting of the guard rail or in other words permits the guard rail to be moved closer to the stock rail than it was originally.

The new guard rail has a long slope at either end, so that it can be used either at the switch point or at the frog. The ridge on the guard rail has been especiallydesigned to accommodate or take care of bald or flangeless driver wheels. Such wheels have a tendency to move laterally, especially in rounding a curve. It is true, if these bald drivers are standard, the ridge is unnecessary, but I prefer to use the same to accolnmodate bald drivers which are not standard, which becomes the case after the wheels have been in use for a considerable period of time. I have also conceived the desirability of employing such a ridge with a guard rail with only one long sloping'end, such as is now used at the switch point, and it is to be understood that I contemplate this by the present invention.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved guard rail ca pable of housing the switch point when the latter is not cooperating with the stock rail, the guard rail being so constructed and positioned relatively to the guard rail that a sufficient clearance space for the switch point is present under all climatic conditions. The guard rail is of open web or skeleton form so that it permits all extraneous matter to quickly pass through to the road bed; this being particularly true of the space between the stock and guard rail. It said space is obstructed, as is possible with some of the guard rails used prior to the present invention, it may prevent the tln'owing of the switch and cause a wreck.

Another object is to furnish guard rails and ramps which will facilitate the passage of objects hanging from the train, past the switch point and guard rail.

A still further object is to provide impart of the present invention and proved clamping means for holding the guard rail in position, so that there is no liability of the same moving upwardly, downwardly or away from the stock rail.

A further object is to provide a modified form of guard rail particularly designed for use at a frog but also capable of eflicient use at a switch point.

\Vith the foregoing objects outlined and with other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described in detail, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a portion of a railroad track at a switch location and illustrating the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view partly in section of a portion of the trackage at this location.

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 1 is a similar view of a modification taken on the same line.

Fig. 5 is a similar view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a side view of the preferred form of guard rail.

Fig. 7 is an opposite side view of the same.

Fig. 8 is a bottom plan view.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of one of the brackets used with this or a modified form of guard rail.

Fig. 10 is asimilar view of a clamp used to secure the guard rail to the stock rail.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a wedge block used with the clamp.

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of a portion of a modified form of guard rail.

Fig. 13 is a plan view of a railway track at a frog location and showing this modified guard rail in position.

Fig. 1 1 is a side view of the modified guard rail.

Fig. 15 is a top plan view of the same; the arrow A in this figure indicating the direction from which Figure 12 is taken.

Fig. 16 is a bottom plan view of the modified guard rail.

Fig. 17 is a perspective view of another larger bracket used with the guard rail.

Fig. 18 is a plan view of a novel ramp designed for use with the improved guard rail.

Fig. 19 is a similar view of a modified form of this ramp.

Fig. 20 is a side view of the ramp shown in Fig. 18.

In the drawings, 1 designates ties supporting an ordinary stock rail 2, and an ordinary stock rail 3 which is bent at the point 4: to provide a switch line stock rail 5.

6 designates ordinary switch points connected together by the usual tie bars 7 and.

proved guard rails 9. one shaped to cooperate with the stock rail 2 and the other shaped to cooperate with the stock rail 3. As this guard rail forms an important feature of the present invention, attention is directed.

particularly to Figs. 2, 6, 7 and 8 for the specific details of this rail. As shown, each guard rail consists of a metal casting having flat ends 10 provided with apertures 11 to receive the spikes employed in nailing the guard rail to the ties. From the ends 10, arms 12 of relatively small height extend upwardly and support the bridge plate 13. Each arm has its outer surface inclined upwardly as shown at 14, toward the other arm, and the side surface 15 of each arm is also inclined downwardly from the bridge 13 to the end 10. These inclined surfaces facilitate the passage of hanging objects from a train over the place where the switch is located, and one end 10 has a raised edge portion 16, for a purpose hereinafter described, and this raised edge also has an inclined surface 17 extending downwardly from the upper surface to the corner 18, to aid in guiding hanging articles over the switch point and guard rail.

As stated heretofore, the main portion of the bridge 13 has its upper surface 20 only about three-quarter inch higher than the upper surface of the adjacent stock rail, and from this portion of the bridge, the bridge is raised slightly, as shown at 21, so that the upper surface of a ridge 22 (provided on this raised portion 21), is only about one and one-quarter inches above the upper surface of the stock rail. As best shown in Figs. 2 and 6. the ends of this ridge, are inclined longitudinally and laterally and downwardly, as shown at 23 and 24, to facilitate the passage of objects over the guard rail and to aid in guiding wheel flanges through or over the switch.

The entire bridge is provided on its under side with a downwardly extending flange 25, and spaced webs 26 connect this flange throughout its length with the under surface of the head of the bridge and function to reinforce the construction. The raised por tion 21 of the bridge is also widened as shown in Figs. 2 and 8, and a. recess 27 is cut in one of the arms 12 near this widened portion to accommodate a portion of the head of the switch point, as will be more fully explained hereinafter. The guard rail also has a recess 28 arranged in its outer side edge.

As shown in Fig. 2, the guard rail when initially positioned from the stock rail is spaced from the latter a sufficient dlstance to accommodate the flange of a car wheel and this space open from the heads of the guard and stock rails to the ties, so that any matter falling into the space, may readily pass through and fall .upon the ground. The guard rail is secured in positionby the spikes 29 and clamp 30, and from Figs. 2 and 5 it may be seen that this clamp is of substantially .U-shap-e, having a base 31 and upwardly extending arms 32 and 33, the former having two recesses 84 and 35, and the latter having a single recess The recess 35 receives the base 37 of the stock rail, while the recess 34 receives a flange 38 arranged at the outer edge of a wedge-shaped key 39. This key is driven in between the web 40 of the rail and the arm 32 of the clamp, and when it has been lodged in position, a cotter pin or the like ll is inserted through one of the holes 42 in the flange (see Fig. 11) to hold the key in position. The arm 33 of the clamp has a projecting lug 43 which enters the recess 28 of the guard rail, to prevent ,the head of the guard rail from moving upwardly. The base of the recess 36 forms a shoulder to support the lower edge of the guard rail, as shown at 44 in Fig. 5. It may be clearly seen from Fig. .5 that the clamp 30 holds the guard rail from movement upwardly, downwardly or outwardly away from the stock rail.

To brace the head of the guard rail, I have also provided the braces 45 and 41 6, shown in detail in Figs. 9 and 17. 'The brace 45 consists of a flat base 47 having apertures 48 to receive the spikes .en'iployed in .securing the base to a tie, and extending upwardly from this base, is an upwardly and outwardly extending inclined post 439 having a "head 50 provided with an angular recess 51 to receive the outer edge ,of the guard rail.

In l, I have illustrated a modifica tion of this brace, in which the base ll of the brace is elongated and extended outwardly to such an extent that it passes beneath the stock rail and is provided with an upwardly projecting lug 52 which abuts against the outer edge of the base of the stock rail. In this case the stock rail will function to hold the brace in position.

The brace 46 is quite similar to the brace 45 with the exception that its edge is substantially vertical instead of inclined.

To complete the new design, I have pr0- vided the improvedramp 55 shown in detail in Figs. 18 and 20. This ramp is preferably made of a casting and it has a vertical wall 56 from which extends an outwardly projecting substantially inverted U-shaped bridge 57. It will be noted from Fig. 18 that the bridge is narrow and of substantially the same width throughout its entire extent, one end portion 58 being spread outwardly and merging into a flat base 59 having an aperthe ramp.

ture 30 to receive a fastening employed in securing the ramp to a tie. Both ends of the bridge are inclined downwardly so that the legs diverge and have their upper surfaces inclined in the proper directions to readily guide parts hanging from the train over the ramp and through the throat or clearance space between the guard rails and stock rail.

The vertical wall 5.6 of each ramp is provided with apertures 62 to receive bolts employed in securing the ramp to a guard ail. Instead of providing the apertures, the :bolts 63 may be made integral with the. vertical wall as shown in the modification in Fig.

19. In either the preferred or modified form.

of ramp, tlieend surfaces of the vertical wall are tapered as shown at 6% to prevent parts hanging from the train from catching on When the parts are assembled in the manner shown in Fig. 2 a clearance space 65 is provided betweenthe base of the ramp and the base of the guard rails, so that the guardrail may 'be shifted toward the ramp, after the. guard rail has become worn after long use.

The switch point 6 as shown in Fig. 2 is in position to guide the car wheel from the stock rails to the switch line or from the switch line to the stock rails, and in such position the head of the switch point is spaced from the guard rail, so that a. car wheel in passing through the switch will abut against the side edge [66 of the guard rail. As soon, however, as the switch point is thrown to open the main line, the base of the switch point will moye beneath the raised edge portion L6 .01? the guard rail and the head of the switch point will move into the recess 27, so that the extreme end 8 of the switch point will he brought beneath the WVlCl-B. raised portion 21 of the guard rail.

into the position shown at the lower portion of Fig. 1. In this position, the end of the switch point will be housed and protected. It may also he seen from Fig. 2 that the construction is such that it is practically impossible for a workman to place his foot between either end of the guard rail and the adjacent surface of a stock rail or switch point.

The guard rail shown as the preferred construction can be used at frog locations, but at such places I prefer to use the modified guard rail shown in Figs. 14, 15 and 16, in detail. This modified guard rail is substantially the same as the preferred form but the raised portion 21 is shifted to the central portion of the bridge and is not widened as in the preferred form. Here the raised portion has a ridge 21* having sloping ends 21 which diverge relatively to one another. I-Iere also the inner side surfaces 21" of the ridge diverge towards the too , per surface of said guard rail.

ends of the guard rail, so that even a bald driver will be properly guided at a frog and will be prevented from shifting laterally. lVhile this modified guard rail can be readily used at the switch points, thereby subserving the same function accomplished by the preferred form of guard rail, I nevertheless prefer the said modification be arranged opposite to the frog 75, see Fig. 18, in order to meet all requirements which may be imposed in the practice of the invention. As before stated, the main function of the ridge 21 in the modification, is to maintain the bald drivers in their true course when passing by the guard rail and also preventing injury to the inner and up- 7 Furthermore, no real injury will be encountered in the event of excessive lateral play in the driving blocks, should the bald drivers be deflected in their course over that portion of the guard rail having substantially the same upper plane as the stock rails.

From the foregoing it is believed that the construction, operation and advantages of the invention may be readily understood by those skilled in the art. and I am aware that changes may be made in the details set forth without departing from the spirit of the invention as expressed in the claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by letters-Patent is:

1. The combination with a stock rail, of a guard rail arranged beside the stock rail and having a top provided with an upwardly extending ridge, the upper surface of the top being in substantially the same plane as the upper surface of the stock rail, and said ridge being of less length than said top and projecting above said plane.

2. The combination with a stock rail, of a guard rail arranged beside the stock rail and having a top provided with an upwardly extending ridge, the upper surface of the top being in substantially the same plane as the upper surface of the stock rail, and said ridge being of less length than said top and projecting above said plane with ends tapered downwardly andaway from each other.

3. The combination with a stock rail, of a guard rail arranged alongside of the stock rail and having a head provided with an upwardly extending ridge, the ends of the ridge being tapered from one side toward the opposite side.

4. The combination with a stock rail, of a guard rail arranged alongside of the stock rail and having a topprovided with an upwardly extending ridge of a length less than the length of the top, the ends of said ridge being inclined downwardly and away from each other and said ends being also inclined from one side of the ridge toward the opposite side.

5. The combination with a stock rail, of a guard rail arranged alongside of the stock rail and consisting of end base plates provided with upwardly extending arms, a bridge connecting the upper ends of the arms, said bridge having an upwardlyextending ridge having tapered ends.

6. The combination with astock rail, of a guard rail arranged alongside of the stock rail and consisting of base members having upwardly extending arms, a. bridge con nected to the upper ends of the arms and having downwaardly inclined surfaces extending towards the ends of the guard rail, said bridge being provided with a raised portion having an upwardly extending ridge provided with tapered ends.

7 The combination with a stock rail, of a guard rail arranged alongside the stock rail and including end bases, upwardly extending arms connected to the bases, and a bridge connected to the upper ends of the arms, said bridge having a downwardly extending flange along one side edge, and webs arranged in spaced relation between the bridge and flange.

8. The combination with a stock rail, of a guard rail arranged alongside the stock rail and having end bases, upwardly extending arms and a bridge, the inner side edge of the bridge throughout substantially the entire length of the latter being spaced from the head of the stock rail, and the remaining portion of the edge extending downwardly and away from the stock rail toward one of said arms. said bridge having araised portion provided with an upwardly extending ridge having tapered ends.

9. A guard rail including end bases, upwardly extending arms connected to the bases, a bridge connected to the arms and having a downwardly extending flange at one edge extending throughout the length of the bridge, and spaced webs extending from the undersurface of the bridge to said flange.

10. A guard rail including end bases, upwardly extend-ing converging arms integral with the bases, a bridge connecting said arms, and a notch in one of said arms to accommodate the head of a switch point.

11. A guard rail including spaced end bases, one of which is provided with a raised edge portion to permit the base of a stock rail to move beneath this edge of said base, upwardly extending converging arms integral with the bases, and a bridge connecting said arm.

12. A guard rail including spaced end bases, one of which is provided with a raised edge portion to accommodate the base of a switch point, the upper surfaceof said raised portion being inclined downwardly and outwardly, converging upwardly extending arms integral with the bases, one arm hav' ing a notch to receive the head of the rail, and a bridge carried by the arms and arranged at a suflicient height to permit the head of a switch point to move into the notch and beneath the bridge.

13. A guard rail including end bases adapted to be secured to railway ties, one

of said bases having a raised edge portion.

to accommodate the base of a switch point, converging arms extending upwardly from said bases, a notch in one of said arms to accommodate the head of a switch point, and a bridge extending between the upper ends of said arms and provided with a raised portion having a longitudinally extending ridge provided with tapered ends, said bridge having a reinforcing flange extending along one side edge thereof, and webs arranged beneath the bridge in spaced relation and integral with the flange.

14. The combination with a stock rail and a'guard rail, of a base plate extending beneath both rails, means connecting one edge of the stock rail to said base plate, and an upwardly extending arm integral with the base plate and provided with a recess to receive one edge of the guard rail.

15. The combination with a stock rail and a guard rail, of a base plate extending be-' having a notch, a lug on the clamp extending into the notch to prevent upward movement of the guard rail, and a shoulder in the clamp to prevent downward movement of the guard rail.

18. The combination with a stock rail and a guard rail, of a substantially U-shaped clamp engaging the guard rail to prevent the latter from moving upwardly, downwardly or away from the stock rail, said clamp having a wedge-shaped lrey provided with an apertured flange, and means extending through the apertures in the flange for locking the key in position.

19. The combination with a stock rail and guard rail spaced apart, of a ramp arranged between said rails and of less width than the space between the rails to permit the guard rail to be moved toward the stock rail after the guard rail has become worn, said ramp having downwardly extending inclined diverging surfaces.

20. A ramp for use on a stock rail between the latter and a guard rail, including a vertical wall provided with means for attaching the same to the web of the stock rail, and a substantially inverted U-shaped bridge projecting outwardly from one side of the wall and having downwardly extending diverging surfaces.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

DENNIS E. LAHEY. 

